At the end of September, a pedestrian died in a bus crash outside of the Nugget in Sparks. We've since learned that the man who was killed was a distinguished local veteran named José Garcia, who had just returned from an Honor Flight trip to Washington, D.C.

Now, his family is sharing memories about a jokester with quite a life story.

"He always had something funny to say, something funny to add to the conversation," Garcia's niece, Lucresha Renteria said. "I would call him and say 'How are you?' and he'd say, 'Abnormal.' And if somebody was meeting him for the first time and said 'Well, nice to meet you,' he'd say 'All your pleasure.'"

José Alfredo Garcia, or Fred, as his family called him, led a life making people chuckle, and a 40-year career helping them breathe, as a local respiratory therapist.

His sudden passing at the end of September was a shock.

"He cheated death so many times in his life, that this is really difficult to believe, that it would be an accident like this that would take him away from us," Renteria said.

As a young man, Garcia signed up to fight in Vietnam. From 1966 to 1968, he served as a helicopter gunner in the Army.

He was shot down twice, but amazingly, walked away both times.

"He felt that his abuelitas, or his grandmothers, were on their knees praying the rosary for him 24/7 pretty much until his return," Renteria said, and they kept him safe."

More than half a century later, Garcia, along with dozens of fellow veterans, were given a hero's welcome home from a once-in-a-lifetime trip: an Honor Flight mission to Washington, D.C. this past August.

He was able to visit the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, and take an etching of names from his hometown of Ely, Nevada.

His family says he made what he felt were lifelong friendships.

"It's one of the things that gives a little bit of solace," Renteria said, "that at least he had that experience, that living experience, and he valued it very much. He loved that trip."

Garcia passed away a month later. But not before he was able to read letters of love and appreciation from his family-- an Honor Flight tradition. Of course, Renteria said, he read them on his own terms.

"He looked around the room and saw these big guys, all these vets, blubbering and crying, and looked at his pile and said 'I'm not opening this,'" Renteria said. "He did not want to open it in front of anyone. He said 'Nobody's going to see me cry.' So he packed them up, he came home, and a few days after he arrived, he read them."

Garcia's family says he didn't often talk about the more serious parts of his service, preferring off-color jokes and comic relief.

"He enjoyed kinda being that shocking humor kind of guy," Renteria said, "but he loved deeply and dearly, and we all knew that he loved us."

Garcia went on a special Honor Flight trip: a 50/50 split between older veterans and younger ones. The program was originally created for World War II veterans, to take them to Washington, D.C. to see the memorials build in their honor. Now, they're doing more trips with younger vets as well.

For information on signing up for Honor Flight, click here.